No Israelis Among Dead in Guatemala Earthquake

At least 48 people are dead, more than a hundred others are missing, and even more wounded in a 7.4-magnitude earthquake in Guatemala.

Contact Editor

Chana Ya'ar, 08/11/12 08:34

Rescuers bring quake victim to funeral home

Reuters

At least 48 people are dead, more than a hundred others are missing, and even more wounded in a 7.4-magnitude earthquake in Guatemala.

No Israelis are among the casualties, Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told Arutz Sheva on Thursday morning. "Many Israelis do go backpacking through the country," he said, but all are accounted for."

The death toll in the tragic event expected to rise, however, as more victims are found by search and rescue teams.

The town of San Marcos took the brunt of the quake, and more than 30 homes were destroyed when the ground began to shake at 10:35 a.m. local time.

An unusually wide area was affected, according to officials, with damage reported in all but one of the country's 22 states. The quake was felt as far away as Mexico City, some 965 kilometers (600 miles) away, to the northwest.

Local officials in the Central American country reports that dozens are trapped beneath runs of stucco buildings that collapsed during the temblor.

Food rations are beieng transported to earthquake-affected areas, at Guatemala's emergency agency CONRED in Guatemala City, with evacuations taking place from the capital to as far away as Mexico City. There have been at least five aftershocks so far, and authorities have distributed 16,000 emergency rations and mobilized more than 2,000 soldiers to help with the rescue effort.

President Otto Perez Molina told reporters at a news conference that officials are considering evacuating residents to neighboring Mexico in the face of continuing aftershocks.